Sanitary and safe baby teething device



May 6, 1952 A. B. JOHNSON SANITARY AND SAFE BABY TEE'I'HING DEVICE Filed Aug. 5, 1950 FlG.--3

INVENTOR.

B. Johnson Anna ATTOBLJLY Patented May 6, 19.52

2,595,462 SANITAEYAND BABY'TEETHING DEVICE AnnaSB. Joh-nscn, Colorado; Smingsafiolc. h licaticnaugufst 5.1950; Serial No; 177,897 acmms. (ol. 12sr-35s1 The-present invention. relates to a sanitary and safe babyteething device. It has to do perticularlyf. although. not exclusively, with sanitary teething devices in which thebodythereof is termed f'irom some sanitar non-metallic Ina-j .A fu ftherobject of the present invention is J toprovidean improved: sanitary and safe baby; teething/device which is capable ofbeing sus-I pended ,iIfQm thewrist oi" the inIant by flexible means which is adjustable, to fit wrists offil iiff ferent'sices. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved sanitary and safe baby.

teething. device having a body portion form-ed preferably from bright colored smooth-finished plastic having a bead-like sanitary chain; re-' movably' attached thereto and providing means for loop=supporting the device from the wrist of an infant.

A further object: of the present lnventionz'is to providc'an inexpensive sanitary and safeflbaby teething device of; the foregoing nature formed of few parts :and which is attractive in appearance and extremely practical for use by an infant.{

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appeanlirom the following description and appended claims when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing formingapart or this specification-wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views. In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embo Qiment of sanitary and safe teething device embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of aninfant and illustrating one use of the device of the present invention; and.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged scale perspective'view of the adjustable slide fastener,- for the. beafilike chain {of the device for varying the size gofithe loops in the chain to fit wrists: of different sizes. Before explaining in detailthe present-invention it. is to. be understood that. the invention is not limited in. its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention. is capable of. other embodiments and of, being practiced orcarried out in various.

ways. It is to be understood also that phraseology or terminology employedhereinis for the purpose of description and not ofl'imita tion, and it is not intended to limit the invention claimed herein beyondthe requirements of the prior art.

Various types of baby teething devices have appeared upon the market but none. of themhave been practical for the. reason. that they were sub ject to dirt-collectingand thus became unsani tary after only a few' 'minutes use. Moreover; someot the devices,particularly those madeiirom soft. rubber,v were objectionable for the reason.

that they misshapedithe lnfants mouth when, used for any length of; time. tionable feature of some of. the. earlier baby teething devices.- was it. was difllcult for the infant to place. them his mouth and; because of the fact that many 'ffljthem were. not provided with means for attaching the to. the arm or wrist of the infant, they iell on the floor and be! came. soiled and in other cases worked their.

Way beneath the infantis body and out of his reach;

It is one of the important features of the pres.-

ent. invention to provide an improved sanitary device for the particular infant using it. It is: desirable that the outer or narrower end of. the

body portion of the device extend even with the finger tips when the. infant's hand is in flatwise condition. Thus, when he tends to put his fingers in his-mouth, the body of the teething de vice will be in position to enter the mouth bcl-p fore the fingers come'in contact with the lips I With particular reference to the-drawing; there is: shown in Fig. l theentire sanitary baby teethng; device in accordance, with one form of the present. invention. The device therein shown comprises a preferably one-piece relatively flat. body, shown as awhole at [0 which may be formed from any suitable non-metallic. material, such as plastic which is preferably brightly -001- ored. The inner end portion ll of body I0 is entire exposed surface area of body if) is smooth finished so as to resist the accumulation of dirt or other foreign matter. By providing such a smooth surface finish, it is extremely easy to clean the body l0.

The inner or wider body portion H is preferably provided with a slot or opening l4 adapted to. receive some suitable and if desirable, removable fiexible means for suspending the body I!) from the wrist of an infant. As shown, such flexible means in the present instance comprises a length of sanitary and'stainless steel bead-like chain l5 having a releasable clasp 6 at its free ends. hand of an infant and to form a loop,.such as loop ll of Fig. 2 about the infants Wrist, as'seen inth'is figure. For the purpose of forming and maintaining loops of variable size so as to fit wrists of diiferent sizes, I have provided a preferably silver or silver-plated slide member or clip, shown as a whole at [8. This clip may be of any desired shape and as shown comprises 'a body portion or base I9 and a pivoted or hinged platelike closure member 28. The body I9 is provided with grooves, such as grooves 2!, see "Fig. 3, to receive the lengths of the chain or other flexible It is desirable to slip the chain l5 over the 4 I and other flexible means, including other types of chains, may be substituted for the bead-like chain l5. Moreover, some other means for producing and maintaining at will loops of different sizes may be substituted for the slide member l8. While I have shown the chain l as having been passed through the opening or-slot I4, I may desire to provide some other manner by which the chain may be attached to the body It). Furthermore, while the body as shown has gradually curved sides and rounded ends and is preferably of somewhat greater width at its inner end portion than at its outer end portion, the shape and conformation as well as the size and proportions of body l0 may be varied from that illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

I claim:-

1. A sanitary and safe teething device for infants comprising a.relatively flat one-piece. body formed from non-metallic material, such as plas-.

tic or thejlike having a smooth surface through out itsen'tire exposed area, said body being of substantially the same thickness throughout its entire area but being somewhat wider at its inner end portion than at its outer mouth-entering end portion, said inner end portion having an enlarged opening formed therein, a quick-detachable bead-like chain extending freely through the opening and having a releasable fastening clasp thereon, and .a removable slide fastener grippin'gly engaging both stretches of said beadlike chain and adapted to be moved thereon for providing a Wrist-engaging and encircling loop of variable size in said chain located adjacent suspending member Hi, this arrangement being ill'u strated besti'n'Fig. lof the drawing.

After the'loop, indicated at ll inFigs. l and 2 has been slipped over the hand of the infant, the topportio'n of the slide member 18 is elevated and the'slide moved along the two sections of chain l5 to adjust the loop I? about the wrist of the infant. After it has been determined as to the proper size loop for the particular infant, the sfid'fastener- 'or clasp I8 is closed to frictionally engage the beads of the chain and maintain the loop' as adjusted. The 'sizeof the loop will depend, of course, upon the size of the infants wrist and 'also upon the length of his hand, it being desirable to adjust the loop and arrange'the body portion l0 upon the palm of the infants open hand so that the outer end portion {2 of the body extends to the tips of the fingers. The loop may be adjusted at will and it is merely advisable to arrange the loop in such a manner that it will not easily slidebr be capable of bein gipulled by the infant, over his handf The clamping 'slide member [8 cannot be easily opened by tampering on the part of the infant. Thus, once the sanitary teething device is suspended from his wrist, it is virtually impossible for him to remove it. Therefore it will be seen that the device cannot become misplaced nor will it become soiled easily because it is impossible for it to fall onto unclean surfaces or come into contact with soiled matter.

While I have illustrated the use of a body in which'is' preferably formed from highly colored plastic'material, and have illustrated the use of ahead-like preferably stainless steel chain, together with a preferably silver or silver-plated saidrelatively flat one-piece body and remote from said releasable fastening clasp whereby to suspend the teething device from the arm of the infant in the vicinityof'the wrist and maintain it in a convenient and comfortable position to be placed in the infants mouth.

2. A sanitary and safe teething device according to claim 1, wherein the relatively flat body has gradually curved merging smooth scallop-like side edges.

3. A sanitary and safe teething device for infants comprising a relatively fiatone-piece body formed from non-metallic material, having a smooth finished surface throughout its entire exposed area, the body being of substantially the same thicknes'sthroughout its length and width, the inner end portion of said body being wider than the outer mouth-entering end portion thereof, and said inner wider bod-y end portion having an opening formed therein-of ample size for the free reception of flexible and quick-detachable means for suspending the teething device from and adjacent to an arm of an infant using said device, said.,.rela'tively,flat .body having gradually curved symmetrical side edges of scallop-like formation merging with one another to provide smooth surfaces for engagement with the mouth of an infant.

ANNA B. JOHNSON.

file of this patent:-

slide-member. 18, it will be understood that other 1 materials may be employed for making the body .H nITEnsrrnrEs PATENTS I Date Number 'N'ai'ne 477,904 Lawson June 28, 1892 651,497 Ware' June 12, 1900 1,623,969 Palmer Apr. 12, 1927 2,408,735

Claflin Oct. 8, 1946 

